I love my 85mm f/1.8.
For anyone who doesn't know what that means, 85mm is the focal length of the lens. You can think of it as 'amount of zoom' if you like - 85mm is a short telephoto length, so it has a smaller field of view or is 'more zoomed' than the human eye.
My baby. Hanging out above the Susquehanna River.
The f/1.8 indicates the widest aperture the lens will open to. You know if you look into a lens and then turn the camera on, you see those iris-like blades open up? That's the aperture getting wider. Your eyes do the same thing. The wider the aperture, the more light you can get in and the narrower depth of field you can achieve.
(incidentally, if you're wondering, our perception of human vision comes out at about 45mm and the aperture or f-number is about f/3.5, though eyeballs are curved and things function a bit differently than a camera)
85mm at f/1.8, surprisingly enough.
That 85mm focal length is perfect if, like me, you generally prefer taking your shots from a slight distance, and if you just *love* that telephoto background separation. In the shot of Tina above, check out how much she 'pops' from the defocused fence behind her, even though it's only a few feet away.
Again here, Lucy's hair and features are in sharp focus while the seat and even her mother's hand are soft, keeping the subject of the image exactly what you want.
I think everyone who gets into 'proper camera' photography has an initial period of trying to blur the background on absolutely everything, because it's one thing you can't do with a point-and-click (including the iPhone's simulated portrait mode). Even once you outgrow that, though, there's still undeniable aesthetic appeal and creative potential to be explored here.
Every variable aperture lens can do that to a degree. However, 85mm is enough of a telephoto focal length that you get really striking background blur, but not so much that you have to be in a different room or outdoors to be far enough away from your subject. It's perfect.
85mm is a perfect focal length for picking out little moments during events.
And if you are a decent distance away from your subject? You could argue that something like a 135mm or a 70-200 would be better in that instance, but the 85 still gets the job done:
It definitely helps to have a lot of colour contrast between your subject and the background, but this is still more than enough separation and pop for most purposes.
Now, let's get gear-specific:
The Sony FE 85mm f/1.8
This is my particular 85mm, and I love it. It's sharp as nails, auto-focuses quickly and accurately - super important for events etc - and honestly just never lets me down at any point. I know I can always rely on it. My 16-35 f/2.8 GM is the only other lens I can say that about, and it's three and a half times the price! At just under $600 the 85 1.8 is an absolute steal.
Obviously I'm not sponsored by Sony (ha) I just adore this lens. It's also worth noting that Sony's top-of-the-line 85mm f/1.4 GM lens is an extra $1200, and it's actually quite hard to tell the images from the two apart!
That draws this particular love story to a close. Let me know if you enjoyed it! I'm off for a biscuit.